Sony will do some regular maintenance to the online service

Sony has confirmed that it will be taking the PlayStation Network offline for maintenance in Europe on Monday morning.

Sony's PSN is playing a bigger and bigger role in the future of the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita, with more and more big games being distributed digitally via the PS Store right when they reach retail outlets.

Now, in Europe, Sony has confirmed that it's taking the PlayStation Network down for maintenance on Monday morning, between 6am and 9am GMT (aka 1am to 4am EST).

During this period, PS3 or PSP owners won't be able to access the PS Store or create and manage their PSN accounts.

They can still collect in-game trophies and these will be updated online once the maintenance ends.

Sony makes no mention of the PS Vita in its announcement, so it's unclear if the offline PSN will affect the device.